Critical: Ages Below Critical

Chapter 1: The Third Red Dot (Part 1)

(t/n - I’ve been translating the county as ‘Atlantis’ due to the element of the region, but since the direct translation is ‘Aslan Empire’, I will be translating it as that from now on.)

In the darkness of the night

drifts a coldness as chilling as lake water.

The forest at the end of the pathway,

Seems frighteningly silent in the night.

In the bottomless darkness,

wave after wave of thundering footsteps,

sounding like drumbeats,

they are getting closer and closer.

[West of Aslan Empire - Town of Fauser]

When Kins enters the lobby of the inn, it is already the afternoon.

The setting sun from outside the window shrouds the inn located at the mouth of the town of Fauser in a warm and charming orange ray. Looking out from the entrance of the inn, there lies a straight path paved in grey-white rocks, the path looks dated, the surface of the rocks rubbed smooth from the elements through the years. From time to time there will be people carrying traveling bags of various sizes walking under the setting sun, one look and you can tell that the person is not local. Occasionally there will also be carriages drawn by horses leaving this down, they are filled with spices and handcrafted leather, which are local specialties. Since the very beginning, the spices made from roots of maple trees in Fauser, due to their advantage of being quality products at low prices, they sell very well at the ports in the South.

At both sides of the path are dense carpets of gra.s.s, as it is currently the start of winter, the gra.s.s have yellowed, the wind picking up the pieces of dry gra.s.s, carrying them in the air; under the rays of the sun, they resemble floating silver dust particles.

The entire town of Fauser looks like a homely town after being painted by silver dust, filled with the fragrance of honey and berry wine and hot fruit tea.

Yet Kins does not care for the scenery outside the door, at this very moment, the only things in his eyes are the people seated in the lobby of the inn.

Similarly, another person sizing up the guests is Qi Ling who is currently weaving between the tables to serve tea for the guests.

If you want to describe Qi Ling, there are many adjectives you can use, the most commonly heard in his youth are sharp, fresh, obedient, pretty, etc, when he grew up, the most commonly heard are handsomely pretty, tall and straight and heroic. Qi Ling was born with pupils brighter than average, coupled with his dark eyebrows that resemble two sharp daggers, his eyes are like stars while his smile is like the spotless curved moon in the sky. Every day at the entrance of the inn, there will be many girls of Fauser who will take a round-about route in order to see him, on their heads there are colourful head-scarves and ribbons, play-fighting while they jog past the door of the inn and glancing in.

Looking at him tying his healthy raven hair behind his head with a band made from lamb skin, and then folding a small portion of his sleeves up in order to wipe the tables, wash the plates, his toned forearm emitting a vibrancy specifically found in mature youths, the lines of his muscles clear and pretty, full of vitality, unlike the uncles sitting at the tables drinking honeyed goat milk wine who seem as if their bodies are covered with a layer of cheese, soft when touched.

They also look at him climb up the fruit tree in the backyard to, picking fruits to eat, or standing atop the roof to sweep away the red maple leaves that fell from the sky. His long and lean built alike a leopard.

Or sometimes he stands in the yard nearing nightfall in autumn; the wind picking up in the sunset where what’s left of the sun resembles blood, the wind causing his brows to scrunch up, looking like a amorous and fallen bard. Actually, in his mind he’s just thinking “I’m done for, I broke three plates this month, the boss lady is going to deduct a lot of money from my pay again.”

Of course, Qi Ling often throws flirtatious looks at the girls, as if it’s in the nature of boys his age to tease girls. Born with pretty eyes and an agile figure, despite being an errand boy wearing clothes faded from too many washes, an aristocratic aura surrounds him, like a layer of starlight.

Those from the town who’s been to the imperial capital of Gelanerte all say that Qi Ling resembles someone from there, all sharp brows and bright eyes. Yet from the moment Qi Ling was born to his seventeen years of age, he hasn’t stepped one foot outside Fauser. He does wish to go to Gelanerte all day long, but despite that, he hasn’t left this small town located deep in the forest even once.

But today, this inn located at the mouth of the town of Fauser, sits five people from the imperial capital of Gelanerte.

Their target is the soul beast ‘Bing Mo’ (lit. Ice Racc.o.o.n) that will be appearing in Fauser that evening.

Qi Ling has been hearing the town folk’s talk about it the past few days, but words like soul beasts and soul masters are much too foreign to Qi Ling. Although he knows that the whole mainland of Odin is set on the foundation of “soul powers”, but the only contact he has with something related to soul powers is the old lady over eighty who is sanctified all day long. The people in this town all say that when she was young, she was the servant girl of a honourable family in the imperial capital, after learning some soul tricks sneakily, she returned to Fauser. Yet the only time Qi Ling ever saw her use her powers was to make the water from the well fill her pail automatically. And this simple action seemed to take all of her life, after which she huffed and puffed as if she was going to die.

Qi Ling feels extremely disappointed. That is because he’s heard so many great things about soul masters, in the legends they seem invincible, when they raise their hands they can influence the red glow of the sky, with a wave their hands they can also command a tsunami, their presence akin to that of G.o.ds.

He will always seek information from the travelers about the imperial capital and the soul masters there, but those who can come to a place like Fauser aren’t very important figures, they only know about the soul powers controlled by the bloodline of the royal family by ear.

So, when the inn suddenly contains five soul masters from Gelanerte, his whole body feels like a kettle filled with boiling water, jumping around, unable to stop not even for a second.

Kins surveyed his surroundings before picking to sit at a table that is already occupied, before he was even properly seated, the woman opposite him opens her mouth: “Can’t you see that this table is already occupied?”

Kins raises his head and a clear and bright smile appears on his face.

Slightly over thirty, Kins is a soul master that has quite some fame in the imperial capital, the family of Kin is also known for their precise control over soul powers, a notable family. He raises his carefully trimmed brows slightly and speaks to the woman opposite him who was clad in dark green: “I did.” After saying that, he raises his hand to pour himself a cup of tea, the liquid filling the teacup like a thin thread without haste, after quite a while, he fills the cup. He places the teapot down, “So?” looking up with his insightful eyes, he looks at her with a smile that is not quite there.

Kins raises his cup halfway, just when he wanted to raise it to his mouth, the cup shatters. The liquid that splattered everyone solidifies into water droplets the size of pearls, bouncing on the surface of the table, the sound of wood echoing on the take. yet these water particles are not frozen, as if being controlled by energy, they are held together in a round shape, bouncing everywhere.

Standing at the side, Qi Ling watches with eyes so wide they are almost falling out.

Kins looks down with a laugh, gently spreading his hands out, at that moment, all the water particles seem to be lead by a force, all of them returning to his palms, before Qi Ling saw what happened, a dainty cup made of ice appeared in the hands of Kins, emitting coldness. Kins picks up the teapot he had set aside before and pours another cup of boiling hot tea into the cup made of ice, the cup not melting despite the flowing steam.

The face of the woman opposite him looks as if it was shrouded by a layer of frost, just when she was about to stand up, Kins raises his hand and gestures for her to sit down. Kins takes a sip of tea before speaking dimly: “You should reserve your soul powers to capture the Bing Mo, if not, you can leave some soul powers in order to run for your life.” Kins smiles bright and confident, “Am I right, Lu Ya?”

The woman clad in dark green does not speak again, however, the man sitting beside them opened his mouth: “Well, since there is only one Bing Mo, you’re gonna have to fight for it anyway, even if one of them dies now, it’s nothing big, it’s actually better.”

Kins turn his head; an expression of disgust appears on his face. The person he wishes to see the least is sitting at the table neighbouring him at this moment — Tuoka. Kins touches what’s left of his severed pinky and shoots a poisonous glare at Tuoka. Three years ago when he had been haunting down the soul beast “Liu Yun” (lit. flowing cloud), Tuoka had been fighting for it with him, cutting off his pinky with his sword of ice, but in the end Tuoka wasn’t able to capture Liu Yun, the person who subdued the beast was a young count from the imperial capital who was only eight years old.

At this moment three years later, Tuoka looks at Kins wildly and arrogantly once again, revealing his dirty teeth.

“It’s not like you have to die s.n.a.t.c.hing Bing Mo, you’re ruining the friendly atmosphere by saying that.” A beautifully made-up woman from another table opens her mouth. She’s dressed like a dancing diva that tours from town to town, bells and cheap jewels covering her body. However, her status is far from cheap. “As long as you know when to quit and run with your tail between your legs, you won’t have to lose your insignificant life, if not you’ll be a blur of blood and flesh in the end with no benefits. That’s why, a person should know where they stand.” While speaking, she movies her full bun of hair from side to side, looking very joyous, as if she just drank some delicious vintage wine, but no one knows who she’s talking to as she was staring at the air, her gaze not focusing on anyone.

After Kins sees her, he takes in a deep breath, regarding her with a tone that is half fearful and half of disdain, saying: “Liuna, don’t you already have ‘Hong Ri’ (lit. Red sun), why are you here.”

Liuna giggles coquettishly, turning to the air beside her and saying: “Hong Ri has been alone for too long, it’s lonely, am I right, Hong Ri?” Just as she finishes speaking, a transparent whirlpool of air appears beside her, with a loud sound, a majestic red lion the size of two grown man appears suddenly beside Liuna, growling constantly, on its forehead are four large blood-red eyes, each looking like a glowing red metal ball, when it opens it’s b.l.o.o.d.y mouth, it spills a gust of burning hot air that causes the air outside to twist and turn. Liuna’s figure was originally built, but at this moment with the large beast beside her, she seems like a small girl.

Those town folks who had been discussing about the group of people softly escapes in panic with their voices raised. This is because they have never seen an actual soul beast before — soul beasts in their imagination should only be like lions and tigers.

“Also, Bing Mo isn’t an easy target, at the most vital moment, I still have to depend on my baby, letting it attack first.” Liuna caresses the terrifying monster beside her as she mumbles lovingly, as if a gentle and kind mother caressing her child.

“Sounds nice in theory,” Kins snorts, “Let it attack first? You mean let it die first. Everyone knows that an average soul master can only own one soul beast, if you want to capture Bing Mo, then you have to let Hong Ri die first.”

“Yes……” Liuna’s gaze is as tender as water, her fingers stroking the black circle of polypus beside the mouth of the monster, without turning her head, she replies, “But how does that concern you?”

Tuoka and Lu Ya both snort but did not reply.

Kins feels very uncomfortable looking at it, but he can’t make a move. Even if Liuna didn’t summon her soul beast, just by herself, her soul powers are comparable to his. Kins takes in a deep breath and turns to look at the gradually darkening sky outside the window.

The lobby of the inn empties out quickly, leaving only the four of them and Qi Ling, who stands petrified at the side with a teapot.

“Tinkle—“

In the silent inn, a clear sound of a metallic bell rings just like a circle of small ripples on the surface of a lake when raindrops pelt on it, spreading in the air. In the lobby of the inn is shrouded by the darkness of dusk, suffusing a thick atmosphere, in the blurry darkness, there seems to be a pile of hidden ghouls. Everyone all senses it sharply, the temperature of the surroundings dropping at a hard-to-detect speed, the water in the air slowly but surely solidifying.

“Ai yah……” A voice that is tender but has an indescribable strangeness to it drifted over from the darkness above, “Why are there still so many people?”

Appearing from the dark shadows on the stairs of the inn is a blurry silhouette of a young girl, appearing to be around twelve or thirteen years old, wearing a purple robe that reaches her knees, she stands barefooted on the stairs, layers and layers of silver metal bands on her hands and feet. The ghostly tinkling sound comes from those.

“This makes me slightly……unhappy.”

The ghostly voice, as if a puddle of dark and lifeless water. Coupled with the numb and hollow express on her face, this sentence doesn’t seem like it came from her, but from a ghoul hiding in the depths of the darkness. The atmosphere becomes strange and twisted rapidly, as if a gust of thick stench from a swamp of death blew over.

The little girl descends slowly, when she pa.s.ses Lu Ya, she turns her head gently, looking at Lu Ya expressionlessly, tilting her head slightly: “Then, we shall have one less first.”

And then Lu Ya’s head, rather baffling, falls to the floor with a crash.

Her torso without her head is still perched upright at the table, even her hands remain in the position of her pouring tea, it’s just that the b.l.o.o.d.y hole the size of a bowl on her neck, like a fountain, has thick and hot blood gurgling out.

The teapot in Qi Ling’s hand falls to the floor with a crash. He stares at the torso without a head sitting upright at the take, his body feels as if it’s being held down by the large and transparent hand of Death, unable to move, his sense of reasoning is telling him to escape, but his body is unable to move due to the overwhelming fear.

The little girl walks past Lu Ya’s corpse, the metal bangles on her feet emitting soul-stirring tinkles, she approaches Qi Ling slowly, with every step, the metal bangles on her body clangs, sounding indescribably creepy.

Her gaze remains steady when she pa.s.ses Qi Ling, even her eyeb.a.l.l.s did not move, as if Qi Ling does not exist. She walks until she is standing in front of Liuna, she turns to look at the red lion, in her eyes is the innocent confusion of a little girl, she uses a naive and crisp voice to say: “Why is it here? Doesn’t it know that Bing Mo is coming soon?”

Her small figure stands in front of the monstrous fiery red lion, raising her head, she looks at it naively: “Are you looking for death?” Her voice is weak and calm, as if asking if someone has eating his or her breakfast.

Hong Ri, under her intense gaze, seems as if it saw a monster, flinching and retreating more and more, his powerful arrogance from before disappears without a trace in an instant, it shivers like a dog that has been frightened. Liuna stands, waving her hand; Hong Ri dissipates into a cloud of red smog, disappearing in the air.

The little girl tilts her head before moving slowly to a chair in the corner, and then she turns to sit in the chair, folding her legs up, hugging her knees, her small figure sinks into the s.p.a.ce between the arms of the air. She cups her round little face, using her intelligent large eyes, as if looking at a group of dead people; she scans every face in the room.

Liuna represses the dread in her heart before she stands and addresses the girl: “If you are here to compete for Bing Mo with us, then I admit defeat, I withdraw.”

The little girl frowns intently, she shakes her head, using a ghostly and faint voice that sounds like it’s coming from a s.p.a.ce far away, she says seriously: “No, I’m not here to compete with all of you for Bing Mo.” After saying that, she turns her gaze outside the window, at this point the outside is already pitch black, the setting sun alike blood has completely sunken into the depths of the ground, the ink-like darkness of the night has painted every inch of the ground in this town, on the darkness of the ground, only the flickering lights from windows of houses remain. She stops for a while before saying: “I’m here to compete with them for Bing Mo.”

At the side, Tuoka snorts, asking: “Who are they?”

The little girl tilts her head slightly, looking at Tuoka, as if pondering his question, her empty gaze settles on Tuoka, saying: “They, they are them.” And then she paused and said: “They are not you.” After saying that, she turns her head back to stare at the end of the path outside, unmoving.

Tuoka sits at the table, unmoving as well.

Qi Ling who is standing closer to Tuoka, has already bent down to vomit, unable to hold it in.

At the ground beneath Tuoka’s feet, unknowing of when it happened, a few sharp crystals grew, like vines growing insanely at the speed of light, they pierce through his feet, following the inside of Tuoka’s body, piercing through the insides of his shins and thighs, finally poking out from densely from his chest area, blooming in the air, as if a gigantic white sea urchin just exploded in his chest. Numerous crystals as sharp as ice blades, decorating his corpse like a statue. His innards and intestines are hanging on these silvery-white icicles, b.l.o.o.d.y and burning, releasing white smoke.

Death looms in the darkness overhead, the constantly rising chilliness spreads in the lobby of the inn. Liuna stands, staring at the little girl, her face is full of fear, “……Who are you?”

The little girl does not look towards Liuna, instead she hugs her knees, raising her head to stare at an unknown point on the ceiling, her gaze empty and pale, as if she can look through the ceiling to see the rapidly darkening sky outside.

The dome overhead is dark and looming, as if the clouds are large sheets of fabric being torn into long flocculent pieces. In the winter night, the bitter cold wind envelopes a scattering of ice shards, blowing in from outside the window.

“You don’t even know me……” The little girl lowers her gaze, looking a tad disappointed.

“She is…… ‘Gu Die’ (lit. Skeletons of b.u.t.terfly) Lijier……” From the quivering throat of Kins, this sentence squeezes out.

“Eh? ……You know of me?” Lijier turns to look at Kins faintly, and then she smiles lightly all of a sudden, her appearance like a bewitching blossom in the smog, “Or is it that…… you can see it?”

The little girl is curled up in the chair in that dark corner, but her body seems to be surrounded by a green and ghastly light that can be discerned faintly. At this moment, in the corner of the lobby behind her, in that large s.p.a.ce, it’s filled with a…… a being that’s indescribable, a being that resembles a b.u.t.terfly. Due to its colossal size, it can only squeeze into the corner behind Lijier in distortion, it seems as if it is going to break the roof with its size. Its body is packed with fine but sharp scales, every single one of them flickering with a ghastly green light, the support that forms its wings, are all stick after stick of crystal-like bones, the wings holding these skeletal bones together is a form of membrane with a softness that makes one ill. The circ.u.mference of the wings is covered with slimy tentacles like that of a squid, at this moment they are creeping around messily. The entirety of the large and ghastly b.u.t.terfly resembles a sticky spotted bat more, unmoving in its distorted position behind Lijier.

“It’s very pretty isn’t it……” A slimy eel-like tentacle falls from the ceiling, Lijier reaches out, caressing that slimy tentacle of Gu Die, if you look at it closely, you will discover that, at the tip of the tentacle, there is a half-closed naked eye.

Kins and Liuna stands abruptly, their chairs falling in the process. They rush out of the inn. n.o.body wants to compete for anything with such a monster.

Qi Ling is curled up at the corner of the inn, he wants to run, but from his scalp to his toes, they are all numb, he watches the little girl in front of him whose gaze is still empty, and then looking at Kins and Liuna who had rushed out of the inn hastily, he’s completely petrified, the lump of creature at the corner of the inn need not even be mentioned.

If he yearns for the world of soul powers before, the Qi Ling now just wants to escape this nightmare as quickly as possible.

At this moment Lijier turns and looks at Qi Ling, “I’m hungry.” Behind her, Gu Die suddenly melts into a puddle of green goo, gurgling from the ceiling, moving across the surface of the ground, climbing the back of the chair and successfully flowing into Lijier’s body from her back. “Go and look for some things to eat for me.”